Mini Pistachio Macarons

There are two thoughts on making pistachio macarons.

One is to make the macaron shells with ground pistachios in addition to making a pistachio filling. And the other is to keep the shells classic almond and just add a flavorful pistachio filling. My preference is the latter. 

I feel that the flavor of the almond shells is neutral enough to not muddle the taste of a rich pistachio filling and I prefer sticking with my tried and true recipe for macaron shells because then I have some reassurance they'll turn out. Macaron ingredients are not cheap and I don't want to risk having them wasted.

The secret ingredient of these Mini Pistachio Macarons is the decadent filling, made with toasted and ground pistachios, pure pistachio extract, unsalted butter, powdered sugar and a pinch of sea salt. The result is rich, lightly sweet and very pistachio-y. It's just perfect!

Two necessary ingredients for a great pistachio filling.

Here's the recipe:

Mini Pistachio Macarons
(makes 75 quarter-sized macarons)
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
moss green gel coloring

lemon yellow gel coloring

Line five heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts.  Towards the end of mixing, add the gel colorings to achieve a deep pistachio green. The color of macarons lighten after baking so be sure to color the meringue more intensely than you want the macarons to turn out.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well. 

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small nickel sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Piped macarons resting before baking.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch.

While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 8 to 11 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Pistachio Filling

Sorted macarons ready for some filling.

Pistachio Filling
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pure pistachio extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup pistachio meats
moss gel coloring (optional)

Lay the pistachio meats on a parchment lined baking sheet and toast them in a 350-degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until toasted and golden brown.

Pistachio meats ready to be toasted.

Grind the pistachios in a food processor until they are a fine powder. Add the powdered sugar and pulse to combine.

The toasted pistachio meats in the food processor.

Grind the meats to a fine powder.

Add powdered sugar.

The pistachio mixture is ready to be whipped into the butter and enhanced with pistachio extract and sea salt.

Place the pistachio mixture in a mixing bowl with the butter, sea salt and pistachio extract. Whip on high speed until light and creamy. Tint with coloring if desired.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag for the filling of the macarons.

The finished filling. I tinted it with a bit of moss green gel coloring.

Filled Mini Pistachio Macarons. Keep the macarons chilled until you are ready to serve them.

Surprise Silver Macarons

The thing about macarons is that the color of the batter changes during baking. It always lightens, but by how much varies, depending on the color, brand and how much of it you've used.

It really is a gamble to get the color to turn out how you want and this can be frustrating, especially when you have a very specific color in mind.

To be honest, I've rarely gotten the exact color I've aimed for and sometimes I'm disappointed and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised,  like today, when my blue macarons magically turned silver. I'd never thought of making silver macarons before but I like them a lot.

I used a new gel coloring, Wilton's Delphinium Blue, and they went into the oven fairly bright blue and came out silver, not grey, but gleaming silver. 

The color that will get you silver macarons.

Piped macarons ready for the oven. I had no idea these would change so much during baking.

A side by side comparison of the batter and the baked macarons.

I didn't know I wanted silver macarons but I do! These will look beautiful displayed with my Gardenia Cookies at this Saturday's Billie Holiday Alternative Liturgy.

Finished silver macarons for the Billie Holiday Alternative Liturgy on Saturday. I filled them with a lightly sweet mixed-berry buttercream.

Gardenia Cookies For Billie Holiday

I always try to come up with a special decorated cookie to serve at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Alternative Liturgy worship services because my husband Joe is the organizer and the freewill offering collected goes directly to Trinity's Hunger Ministries which supports the Wednesday Community Meal.

The Alternative Liturgies are always based around a popular music theme, musician or band whose songs are performed live by a group of fantastic musicians who donate their time and talent.  Special cookies I have made for past alternative liturgies include a yellow submarine (The Beatles), a lightening bolt (David Bowie) and a smiley face (Nirvana).

This weekend's liturgy is Billie Holiday and I knew right away I needed to make a Gardenia cookie since that's the flower she always wore in her hair.

I wanted to make the flower three-dimensional and it took me a while to figure out how — My solution was to make one layer of Gardenia petals out of cookie and a second layer of petals out of royal icing.

I'm very pleased how these turned out and can't wait to serve them this weekend. Please considering joining us, the music and messages are always inspiring and it's for a great cause.

Here are the details:

GOD BLESS THE CHILD: BILLIE HOLIDAY LITURGY
Saturday, April 11, 6:00 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Ave, Portland, OR), Kempton Hall, Free and Open to the Public. An alternative Eastertide liturgy set to the songs popularized by the Angel of Harlem, jazz legend Billie Holiday. An evening of live music, readings and reflections to benefit Trinity’s hunger programs.

And, here's how to make Gardenia Cookies:

You need a round cutter and a mini heart cutter.

Cut and bake the round cookies with 2/3 of your dough and then roll out the remaining 1/3 and cut mini hearts. These will be used to make flower petals.

Cut a heart cookie in half.

Use your figure to flatten and shape it into a petal.

Pinch off the bottom to shorten the petal like the two on the left. The dough you remove can be re-rolled. You need a lot of petals, five for every cookie.

After you've made the petals, bake them for 4 to 5 minutes in a 325-degree oven.

Outline and fill your round cookies with flood icing. Set them aside to dry overnight.

With white icing, outline and fill all of the petals and set them aside to dry.

Once your base cookies and petals are dry, you can assemble. Use medium consistency royal icing to pipe six dots — First add one in the center and then add five evenly spaced around it.

Place a petal on each of the five dots.

Using stiff white royal icing and a petal tip (I use Wilton #104), pipe a petal on top of the cookie petals. This takes some practice so you may need to first try piping onto a plate. The most important thing is that a petal tip is wide on one end and narrow on the other and the wide end should be on the bottom and the narrow end on the top as you pipe a petal.

Pipe four more petals. As you pipe, the stiff icing tends to soften because of the pressure and warmth from your hands. If the icing gets too soft you may need to whip it again.  It's worth taking the time to do this if necessary.

Let the cookies dry before adding a center.

With medium consistency gold icing and a #1 tip, add a tiny dot to the center of each Gardenia.

Textured Heart Cookie

A simple cookie design can be made more interesting with a bit of texture. Creating the textured background for the heart isn't hard at all, it just takes some stiff royal icing, a small square tip brush and some time.


Here's how:

Bake a batch of sugar cookies. I cut out squares and rounds of cookie dough and then with a smaller heart cutter made an impression in each of the cookies. The impression will stay during baking.

Pipe some thinned royal icing around the heart.

Use a knife to spread it to the edges of the cookie. Be sure it's just a thin coat of icing since you'll be adding plenty more in the next step. Let this dry completely before moving on.

Get your square tip brush, a small cup of water and a paper towel ready and starting at the top edge of the cookie pipe a row of dots using stiff royal icing. In one stroke and pulling downward, swipe each dot with the brush. Be sure to clean the brush periodically, dabbing off excess water with paper towel. Add another row of royal icing dots and repeat.

Keep working down the cookie and around the heart impression.

Try your best to keep your rows even and straight.

When you are done, let the icing dry before moving onto the next step.

Outline the heart with flood consistency royal icing.

Fill in the heart with more of the flood icing and give the cookie a gentle shake to help it settle into place. Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging.

Cookie Sale Time

Gingerbread Snowflakes

It's hard to believe, but it's already time for another Christmas Cookie Box sale to benefit hunger ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Boy the year went by fast!

For me, the annual sale is a lot of work but it's also a lot of fun because I get to bake thousands of cookies with my friends.

Each box contains more than 40 all-butter cookies and is artfully packaged with a shiny red bow and decorated gingerbread cookie like these pretty white on white snowflakes that I made. Inside the box are shortbread cookies, brownie biscotti, ruglach, Linzer cookies and Russian teacakes, just to name a few.

Next Sunday, we will be pre-selling the boxes in Kempton Hall at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Ave) between 9 a.m. and noon and this is the only way to buy a box, so here's additional information:

It’s once again time for the Annual Christmas Cookie Box sale benefiting hunger ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.  This is our largest fundraiser of the year. Each box contains 40 + delicious all-butter cookies, made in-house by a team of bakers from the Wednesday Community Meal.  Cookie boxes are artfully packaged and make wonderful gifts!  The cost is $40 with 90% of the proceeds going directly to Hunger Ministries.  Boxes can be pre-ordered on Sunday Dec. 7 in Kempton Hall before and after the 10 a.m. service.  Pick up must be on Sunday, Dec 14th between 9 a.m. and noon in Kempton Hall.  We do require pre-ordering and payment at time of order (cash, check or credit card).  

Coffee Salted Caramel Macarons

These Coffee Salted Caramel Macarons are cute, delicious and easy to make. The filling is just butter, salted caramel, espresso powder dissolved in a bit of water and an extra dash of sea salt whipped together.

After her first taste, my daughter Eleanor gave me a big smile and said "Mom, the kids at my school would go crazy for these because they taste just like a Starbuck's caramel frappuccino."

The macaron batter is colored with a bit of fuschia and violet gel paste but the filling is au natural.

The color of the macaron batter before baking.

Here's a side by side comparison of the baked and unbaked macarons. The color of the batter always lightens after baking so you need to color the batter darker than the color you want.

I really like the look and taste of these and I'm anxious to see what others think when I serve them this Saturday at the Leonard Cohen Alternative Liturgy at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

If you'd like a taste, please join us. Here are the details about the Liturgy which is a fundraiser for Trinity's hunger ministries which supports The Wednesday Community Meal and the recipe:

LEONARD COHEN LITURGY
Saturday, November 15, 6:00 p.m., Kempton Hall. Join Trinity for an alternative liturgy set to the songs of popular music’s saint of solitude, prophet of the heart and brother of mercy. From “Hallelujah” to “Tower of Song,” Leonard Cohen stands with Bob Dylan as one of the world’s most fascinating and prophetic songwriters. But this Alt.Liturgy will show that he also stands with David in the Psalms, constantly asking, “Can you hear my song?” A freewill offering will benefit Trinity’s hunger ministries.

Coffee Salted Caramel Macarons
180g ground almonds, sifted
270g powdered sugar, sifted
150g egg whites, aged 2 to 4 days in the fridge and then brought to room temperature
100g granulated sugar
fuschia gel coloring (optional)
violet gel coloring (optional)

Line four heavy baking sheets with good quality parchment paper and set aside. Also, set aside two pastry bags for the piping of the macarons.

Sift together your ground almonds with the powdered sugar and set aside.

Whisk the egg whites (at room temperature) to glossy firm peaks adding the granulated sugar gradually in four parts. Add the coloring if desired and mix well.

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites using a large rubber scraper.  Mix well.

Fold the mixture with the rubber scraper by pulling down the sides and flipping the mixture over. Do this until you have a smooth mixture that falls like a “ribbon” off the scraper.

Transfer the mixture into the two piping bags. Use rubber bands to close the piping bags. Clip the tip of the bags, one at a time, and pipe small quarter sized rounds, leaving 1-inch of space between each because they spread as they set.

Leave to set for about 30 minutes or until the top has formed a crust and is not sticky to the touch. 
While they are setting, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. A convection oven is preferable. 

Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cookie is firm, matte and doesn't wobble when touched.

Leave them on the baking tray until cool then lift them all off the parchment carefully. You may need to use a thin knife to help lift them off.

Sort into pairs and fill with Coffee Salted Caramel Buttercream.

Coffee Salted Caramel Buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water, cooled

Whip the butter until it is smooth and light. Add the caramel sauce, dissolved espresso mixture and salt and whip again until light and creamy. 

Filling the macarons.

Quick Decorated Cookies

If you have your heart set on making decorated sugar cookies but don't have a lot of time, these simple mini cookies are the answer.

As I've mentioned before, decorated cookies are not something to be made last minute because they are time consuming to make and not just because of the baking and decorating. They take a full day just to dry.

Luckily there are exceptions and these Blue Mini Heart Cookies are one of them. Because the 1.5-inch heart is small, I was able to use a thicker flood icing to fill them which reduced the drying time to six hours.

Usually I flood cookies with 10 to 15-second icing which is icing that takes that long to settle back into place after drawing through it with the side of a spoon, but for these I was able to use 20-second icing.

Another time saver was that I didn't use a separate icing to outline the cookies. Instead, using the same 20-second icing,  I outlined and filled each cookie in one step. This kind of decorating goes really fast and in the end it took me just four hours to bake and decorate 100 cookies. They'll take another six hours to dry and then they are done and ready to package and/or serve.

Step 1: Make and bake the cookies.

Step 2: Mix 20-second icing and outline and fill the cookies. I like to decorate three cookies at a time. After filling, use a scribe tool or skewer to evenly distribute the icing and give each cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle into place.

Step 3: Wait for the cookies to dry.

For added interest I went for an ombre look, using three shades of teal icing and I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Using different shades of icing is a nice way to add interest to a simple design.

These cookies are going to be served at this Saturday's Leonard Cohen Liturgy to benefit Hunger Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. I hope you can join us. Everyone is welcome and the event is free. It's great opportunity to enjoy wonderful live music and eat cookies.

Here's more infomation:

LEONARD COHEN LITURGY
Saturday, November 15, 6:00 p.m., Kempton Hall. Join Trinity for an alternative liturgy set to the songs of popular music’s saint of solitude, prophet of the heart and brother of mercy. From “Hallelujah” to “Tower of Song,” Leonard Cohen stands with Bob Dylan as one of the world’s most fascinating and prophetic songwriters. But this Alt.Liturgy will show that he also stands with David in the Psalms, constantly asking, “Can you hear my song?” A freewill offering will benefit Trinity’s hunger ministries.